


Thoughts [unedited]

by Jammy



Category: Neopets
Genre: Father and Son, Kanrik's only mentioned he's not really in this sorry lol, M/M, Monsters, Other, beasts - Freeform, he's mentioned but it's kinda his 'fault' lol, relationships, so is Shimon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-04
Updated: 2017-09-04
Packaged: 2018-12-24 01:06:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12001722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jammy/pseuds/Jammy
Summary: Cathal, Shimon and Oliver had an important event happen to them on one of their hunts. A beast actually communicated to them, with an intelligence reflecting to back when it used to be 'normal'. Though after the encounter, after Shimon had shown to Cathal how he hunts the veteran hasn't muttered a word.It's beendaysnow, and Oliver is starting to get worried...and ticked.Shimon Stoneark belongs to werelupewoods!





	Thoughts [unedited]

**Author's Note:**

  * For [werelupewoods](https://archiveofourown.org/users/werelupewoods/gifts).



> Sorry, just sorry the blame goes to my amazing GF who wrote this depressing thought on her blog and I was like: "WOW, YEAH THAT WOULD MAKE CAL REALLY CONFLICTED AND SHIT". And being that I'm not so good at dealing with my emotions my very first reaction was to start writing so....here you go. 
> 
>  
> 
> Anyways, here's wonderwall. 
> 
> \-- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Did they do something wrong?

 

If they did, his father has a very obvious way of showing it.

 

 

It’s been almost four days since Cathal had tagged along with Oliver and Shimon for a hunt, four days that Cathal has said a word to anyone in the household, the only exception being little Bonnibelle but even the small hushed whispers in Darigan that weren’t heard to the baby made Oliver feel even more conflicted….Cathal probably spoke to Nickolas once or twice during the last couple days, because the cleric didn’t really look so worried about it, he did have that pained expression on his face whenever he greeted his husband into the room and get nothing but a ghost of a grin and a continued silence after that.

 

Oliver was beginning to panic a little, does….does Cathal hate him? Or worse, does he hate Shimon? For what he did? For talking to that beast back in Newlynn and giving it a merciful death? He couldn’t tell but, he’s heard the stories and he’s read the journals about his father, all depicting him as an intelligent and powerful man...a very vengeful man.

 

The young Christmas Gelert looks up from the rim of his tea cup to watch as Cathal walked across the room and grabbed his cape from the coat hanger, so he was going out again? This had to be the fifth time in the last couple days that he’s done this, without telling the family where he was going nonetheless. Cathal stops from tying the cape completely when he sees his toddler daughter totter her away from her tiny corner where she was playing with some toys, her little pink shoes in her hands as if she was getting ready to go with him. Cathal laughs softly, almost painfully, under his breath and picks his daughter up, whispering to her something in Darigan and walking back to her little corner to set her down and pat her head. Bonnie lets out a disappointed sounding ‘feh’ and gets up so she can try to walk after Cathal again, only this time Oliver sets his tea down just in time to reach and scoop up his baby sister into his arms, laughing evilly and planting kisses all over her cheeks. Luckily the distraction works, Bonnie almost completely forgets about following Cathal and instead just laughs and tries to swat her older brother’s kisses away with furious waves of her hands—and the shoes she still held—and almost succeeding in hitting the young hunter in the face with them. Oliver turns his attention to Cathal who completely ties his cape in place then grabs the cane that leaned against the door,

 

“Will you be home before dinner, father?” Oliver called, again his plan worked. The older hunter freezes in the doorway, his hand still grasping the doorknob and Oliver can see that his shoulders tense, as if he wanted to say something, as if he was going to finally answer him.

 

But he doesn’t.

 

“What the hell is _his_ problem?” Oliver finally growls once Cathal closes then locks the door behind him with nothing more than a hum as an answer, he couldn’t help but wince as something gave a sharp and disciplined tug to his ear, of course, it was Nickolas who had to walk in and hear him.

 

“No swearing in front of the baby, Oliver.” the blonde Gelert scolds gently helping Bonnie to the floor once she tries to wiggle out of Oliver’s grasp, he decides then to sit down next to his son and watch as his daughter toddles back to her little pile of plushies on the floor and try to line them up in a row and knock them over. “About your father though--”

 

“He hasn’t said a word to me in almost four days, Nicko.” the young Christmas Gelert throws his hands up in the air in aggravation, “If he has something to say then he can say it to my face! Does he hate me? Does he hate Shimon? Does he want to—to kill every single beast he lays his eyes on the same way he’s always done it? Brutally? I don’t get it!” Nickolas frowns a little, not because he was angry but because he couldn’t believe that Oliver might think Cathal hates him, or this man that he loves, especially for something as life changing as…

 

“Oliver--”

 

“I bet he’s out in Newlyn right now, killing every single one of those tiny helpless poison beasts near the Square!” he buries his face into his hands and lets out a long groan, “I pray to the divines that Shimon isn’t there to witness all of it if father is…he can barely handle me almost accidentally stepping on one of those little assholes, let alone father fucking mutilating them all….”

 

“ _No_. _Swearing_.” Nickolas scolds again with another tug to Oliver’s ear, this time however the young hunter finally ends up quieting down so he sighs, finally able to speak his mind. “Oliver, I know there were many stories made about your father back when he was your age. Believe me, I’ve witnessed half of them in person and I can proclaim that a lot of them were true.” The cleric looks over to the fireplace where a few skulls that Cathal has put together and declared them to be ‘the Summer Skulls’ sat, with a candle still lit on the uppermost top skull. Nickolas shakes his head shamefully, “Cathal is very…violent when he’s angry, and I can completely understand why you would think he’d do something as such. You and him have very similar ‘tantrums’.” Oliver finally peeks at his father from in between his fingers, mostly ashamed because it was true. He wasn’t the best when it came to controlling his anger, he was the offspring of two of the most angriest Gelerts in all of the medieval realms after all. “ _But_ ,” Nickolas continues, getting up from his seat and walking to the fireplace, he reaches for a white rose that was in an elegant glass vase, though empty the flower hasn’t wilted a bit, not once since it was given to him. Slowly he makes his way back to the tea table and sits down besides his son with the rose still in hand. “your father values life, or lives, I should say. He’s a very compassionate person and, unfortunately, he views it as a negative trait of his from time to time. Especially when something like what happened on your hunting trip decides to spark a revelation in him that makes him feel remorse, one of his least favorite things.”

 

“So…” Oliver mutters, putting his hands down and this time he’s leaning his elbows on his knees so that he can try to sit in a comfortable manner and calm himself down, that was a strange thought. Why would Cathal view being compassionate as a bad trait for himself? “What does _that_ mean? Why is he _really_ upset? Is he…upset at what Shimon and I do? How Shimon’s hunts are impacting my own?”

 

“No.” Nickolas answers taking the moment to pause so he can pour himself a serving of tea and warm it up with the light he brought forth from his fingertips and press to the bottom of the tea cup. “No of course not, he’s realized what young Shimon does is something…admirable. Though, a little strante I have to admit, but even I—and your father has acknowledged this as well—I had forgiven a beast after it has attacked us, I knew it wasn’t their fault, I know that the curse that deformed them didn’t reflect the true person that was inside. Cal, he…he’s feeling very guilty for what he’s done, and it’s affecting him pretty harshly.” Nickolas takes a moment to sip his tea while Oliver looks down at the ground and tries to absorb what he’s hearing. “He has been doing this for a long time you must understand, and, unfortunately he has killed many of those beasts. Two beasts in particular are bothering him, the memories of killing those two beasts instead of trying to communicate to them is what is driving your father into a silence.”

 

“What makes these two so special?” Oliver asks, he can’t help but look over when Bonnie gets up from her corner again—this time probably bored with the toys she has and wanting some attention—and desperately trying to climb onto her older brother’s lap. He helps her sit on his lap and he uses his knee to gently bounce the toddler up and down, to his little sister’s delight, he holds her by under her arms just so he can keep her steady and in one place. “Were these beasts friends of his that turned or something?”

 

“One was a man that he despised since childhood, a cleric just like myself.” the blonde answers blowing on the tea just a bit before taking a slow and content sip. He sighs, half because of the refreshing brew and half because opening old wounds was such a very...painful thing to do. “This man turned far after he did something very vile to us both…what he did to our very first child.” he sighs again and swirls the tea around in the cup. “The second man was a mentor of ours, though he was very close to Cathal...he pretty much raised him all on his own and for that Cathal looked up to him as he would to a father. One night however—just a few days before Bonnie was born—he came across this beast and he realized that it was his mentor. He believed he had no other choice than to kill him on the spot, but, well, he now realizes that he might’ve been able to communicate with him. And the others,j just as he would if his family and friends had began to attack him if they ever came to that. He realizes that they were, in fact, people too and they had more than enough reason to be given a chance, especially at their lowest of times.” Nickolas shakes his head but he laughs softly, “Your father doesn’t really feel ‘regret’ often, and when it does it nearly drives him into a panic, or in a state of mind so conflicted that he can’t help but be silent for days at a time just because he’s trying to wrap his head around it being that it is so foreign to him. But I know what he’s up to, and I know where he’s going, he’s going to go out there—back to Newlyn—and he’s going to read, he’s going to walk, he’s going to observe, he’s going to silence his blade, and he’s going to teach himself how to stop and to listen. Something that even as a child he’s struggled to learn.”

 

“Wow….” Oliver whispered slowing down his bouncing so that he can think about it some more, he couldn’t believe that Cathal actually even considered trying to hunt the same way Shimon does, or rather yet, think that Shimon’s strategy was even worth something to try out. Though, he’ll admit that Shimon nearly gets himself hurt or almost killed just about every single time he attempts to do something like this but, yes, even he had been close to skeptical about his dear _Leibling’s_ way of hunting. But it had to be that one time that he saw Shimon’s expression soften when a little grotesque beast didn’t bother to bite him or try to fight when he put it into his pocket, and the thrilled crooked grin on his face when he releases the creature and after a few days when they walked in the same area it didn’t attack them, it stayed it’s distance and chirped back when he greeted it with a soft coo. Oliver realized that these things—despite what hunters had said for ages—had feelings, they felt pain, they remembered faces and some may recognize speech or speech patterns. It was something he was writing in his book of his and Shimon’s adventures too, the becoming of their relationship, the fights they’ve been in and the sheer discovery of these monsters being real living things. Knowing that Cathal was beginning to see what he was seeing whenever he hunted with Shimon was really gave him some hope…

 

Oliver looks up again once he hears a small frustrated ‘feh’, realizing that he had stopped bouncing Bonnibelle and she was looking rather insulted that he stopped he continued to bounce his leg, he smiles a little. “He’s managed to keep a conversation with the baby though.”

 

“Oh yes, he has to. Bonnie is…well, it looks like that she has Insight and it’s been progressing ever since she first opened her eyes.” Nickolas began slowly, he grins at his daughter and in return she smiles and waves her little arms as she giggles in delight. “From what I was able to gather the last time your father had gotten silent and solemn, she was able to feel that he was depressed and so it had scared her. I mean, who wouldn’t be scared when they see their own father come to bouts of sadness and self hatred? In our families Insight is a very powerful thing, and very hard to control especially if someone as young as Bonnie has grasp on it, so though your father has been in deep thought for the last couple of days, just to ensure that Bonnie doesn’t try to use her Insight on him he would often talk to her and ensure her that nothing is wrong, things like that.” Nickolas then looks up at Oliver and frowns, “Which is why I am trying to get you and Arlen to stop _swearing_ so much, I can’t have the baby walking around and cussing after every little inconvenience that happens to her like what you two do.”

 

“But father, that’s what cusses are for.” Oliver laughs and he winces before Nickolas could even bother to raise a hand, and it seems that’s what his father was aiming for because the cleric smiles that know-it-all grin as he takes another long satisfying sip of of tea. Oliver begins to think again, so, Cathal isn’t really mad at him or Shimon, which is great to hear but, how long will this silence last?

 

“Give him a few more hours, my son, he’ll be back to his usual self before you know it.” Nickolas decides to answer, thank Fyora he had Insight, he didn’t really want to vocalize the problem aloud… “I can say that Cathal getting silent like this isn’t common, and when it does happen the most it takes is about…a week or so before he gets back to his usual self. But this isn’t the case, he’s actually told me this morning that he was looking forward to going hunting with you and Shimon again.”

 

“He said that? Really?” Oliver says with a twisted muzzle, he stops his bouncing just a moment so Bonnie can turn herself around and try to climb onto his shoulder. The young Christmas Gelert laughs at his sister’s silliness and because he doesn’t really believe his father too much, “That’s unexpected, and a pleasant surprise but…considering that every single time I tried to talk to him he doesn’t answer or anything, it really makes me think that, that’s not the case.”

 

“Like I mentioned before Ollie, your father is a critical thinker, he usually validates his thoughts as more important than communication...fortunately for some, unfortunately so for us.” Nickolas mumbles with a small laugh, he looks at the white flower he placed on the side and smiles a little more. “But, I have an even better idea. How about we have dinner with this partner of yours, hm? Just the family, we can have a nice dinner out on the beach not too far from the greenhouse.” Oliver couldn’t help but grin in excitement, Shimon Stoneark in Krawk Island? He’s never really mentioned if he’s ever traveled out from the mainland but maybe he was willing to give it a chance. Afterall, Shimon was really happy to meet both Cathal and Nickolas the last time they were in Brightvale together, maybe he won’t mind coming by and enjoying some quality time with his little sister and younger cousin—or maybe even ‘brother—Kanrik, playing music, laughing at jokes and just enjoying their company. Maybe they can talk more about monsters and beasts, or about the times of old, or the unusual rituals and days clerics spent back then, and how hunters were more of a knight’s role then of that belonging to the common man, maybe…maybe he can even talk to Cathal about this once after his father returns home for dinner.

 

“I like that idea, I’ll bring it up to him. And I think I’ll bring that up to father too.”

**Author's Note:**

> \-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
> 
> Hey, you know what's really cool? 
> 
> Cathal is really expandable to change. 
> 
> It's so rare to see someone change Cathal so much but I _know_ that after realizing what Shimon does and why, and see how it works he can completely understand where Shimon is coming from and he is willing to give it a try. Now, his views on monsters and beasts are still very different compared to Shimon's, but, he's come to understand them far better than he did before hunting with Shimon and Oliver, and that's why he's looking forward to hunting with them again. 
> 
> Ok, that was the last of it, I think it's out of my system...for now.


End file.
